US adviser Bolton: Efforts to stop Iran from ‘destabilizing’ the region underway

Efforts to stop Iran from “funding terror, destabilizing the globe, and breaking international sanctions” are underway, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a tweet on Monday.

Bolton also urged authorities to prevent the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1, currently heading to Turkey, from off-loading in port or at sea.

The vessel, previously named Grace 1, was seized in Gibraltar in July on suspicion that it was carrying oil to Syria, a close ally of Iran, in violation of European Union sanctions.

The Grace 1 had originally flown the Panamian flag but Panama’s Maritime Authority said in July that the vessel had been de-listed after an alert that indicated the ship had participated in or was linked to terrorism financing.

The initial impounding of the Grace 1 kicked off a sequence of events that saw Tehran seize a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf two weeks later, heightening tension on a vital international oil shipping route.

That tanker, the Stena Impero, is still detained.

The two vessels have since become pawns in a bigger game, feeding into wider hostilities since the United States last year pulled out of an international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, and reimposed economic sanctions.

- With Reuters